Evolution, Tony Style
by Dixie Dewdrop
Summary: A housebound Leroy Jethro Gibbs reminisces upon Tony's metamorphosis during his years of tenure with NCIS. This is part of my Here and Now scenario.
1. Chrysalis

Chrysalis

Leroy Jethro Gibbs twisted the nearly bald brass front door knob to his house and stepped inside, closing the door softly behind him.

Resting against its frame, he leaned down to massage his knee with both hands before he braced for another step. His ministrations barely softened the throbbing.

Wincing at the joint's discomfort, he squinted as he took a panoramic view of the living room, dining area, and corner of the kitchen that he could see from the entrance's vantage point.

With a climactic start he felt a stab that this, his place, actually looked homey.

The acknowledgement settled upon him awkwardly, so he pushed away from the doorframe and walked carefully to the kitchen, biting one corner of his lip at the jolting of his knee brought about with each labored step.

Sighing heavily at the exertion he consciously paced himself better, easing some of the painful throbbing from his knee.

Ducky would hit the roof if he suspected Jethro had not followed his instructions to the tee.

Spooning mounds of ground coffee into the coffee pot's filter basket, Gibbs expertly poured the water into the stained glass carafe and then into the coffee pot's reservoir. With a flourish, he stabbed the power button with his forefinger and relaxed against the counter's edge.

His subconscious listened for the reassurance of the first percolated drops hitting the glass bottom on the pot's burner.

The reward came within ninety seconds, and he smirked at the coffee's dependability.

Some things never disappointed, and he nodded at the appliance with genuine affection.

That brought to mind a conversation Tony and Abby had attempted to conduct with him, centered around the ridiculous notion that a replacement coffee pot they had found at a fancy department store would make him so much happier than the one he had trained and relied upon for years. The one which had personally earned their stamp of approval, they assured him, could do countless tricks, including setting itself to perk with a built in alarm clock.

An on and off power switch- that was all he wanted.

Grinning at the memory he checked the perking status and poured himself a cup of the potently strong black coffee, savoring the fact that once again, it presented itself to him aromatic and perfect.

Pushing off from the counter he moved stiffly into the living room, pausing at the mantle to regard several framed photos in a variety of sizes and framing materials. He, of course, had contributed pictures to none of them, other than take a position in the shots, but had allowed Abby to create a display when he grew tired of her begging.

Reaching forward, he brought one closer and grinned at the grouping. He and Ducky, otherwise introduced as Dr. Donald Ducky Mallard, stood against the rails of the staircase leading from the bullpen to the upper floor of the NCIS agency. Abby Scuito, forensics scientist extraordinaire, and Kate Todd, his team profiler, sat together on one wide step, arms slung over each other's shoulders. Up a step behind them, Tony Dinozzo, his senior field agent, and Tim McGee, the probie on his team, each leaned forward, forearms resting on their thighs and genuine smiles on their faces.

Those five people made up the working colleagues with whom he spent the majority of his professional time.

Gibbs blew a speck of dust off of one corner and regarded the medical examiner. Despite Ducky's advanced age, his energy level stayed strong, and his commitment to his profession suggested he had no intention of ever slowing down or retiring. Jethro smirked recalling the heated conversation he and the good doctor had exchanged not an hour earlier, as Dr. Mallard assured him in his angriest Scottish burr that if Jethro did not drive home immediately and rest his knee, he would personally see to a guarantee that the NCIS Director bench Gibbs.

Placing the photo back in its allotted place, Jethro acknowledged that Ducky had won, and to be perfectly honest, Ducky always won because he refused to allow Gibbs to intimidate him.

Next the NCIS team leader selected a print of Tim and Kate taken in a park near NCIS. The two grinned at the camera, showing off cones of cotton candy they had gotten from a kiosk outside the park area.

It was good to see them so relaxed, and despite the fact that Tim had graduated from college and worked at a government agency, his very demeanor always resembled an overgrown kid, and in this scenario, a thrilled one.

The job ripped so much out of all of them that every little bit of happiness had meaning.

A particularly vicious cramp targeted his knee and Jethro shoved the photo to the side and grabbed the mantle for support. He used his free hand to rub roughly at the problem area, but acknowledged he needed to sit.

Extending his leg gently he put his weight on his knee and sucked in a breath. Ducky was right- he should have sat immediately when he got home.

Retrieving his mug of coffee, he grasped it, along with a photo of Abby and Tony from the mantle, and made his way carefully and laboriously to the couch.

Settling heavily against the cushions, he gulped a swallow of coffee and situated it on the side table, then used both hands to prop his leg on the coffee table in front of him. Even a gentle touch hurt.

Fumbling beside him he located the framed photo of Abby and Tony and set it beside the coffee, taking a long look at it before he leaned his head against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes.

He had actually taken that picture, pressed into service by Abby, and he had captured Abby and Tony as he privately loved them best, their expressions delighted and excited all together as they witnessed a Fourth of July fireworks exhibition. Both stood, Abby right in front of Tony, and Tony had pulled her against him with one arm across her chest. Tony's tee shirt was red and white striped for the occasion, and Abby had complemented him with her own blue starred shirt.

Holding the image closer, he confirmed that their animated faces looked innocent and carefree, so far removed from the expressions their professional personas adopted that it did not seem possible that they dealt with death and crime and bad guys on a daily basis.

He had frozen that irreplaceable moment in time in the split second it took to make the decision to accede to Abby's pleas, grab the camera, focus, and snap.

Afterwards the two had expressed incredulous surprise at his tech know how. He decided not to point out that he had photographed crime scene pictures while they learned their multiplication tables.

Tracing the outline of Abby's jaw, Jethro shook his head slowly, acknowledging that life had changed for him once Abby burst into his reality. No, exploded for him because of her probably summed it up better.

Life had nearly destroyed him, and even now, at times, almost defeated him. He had turned to a position at NCIS after the murder of his wife and daughter, once he had made up his mind to spend the rest of his life simply practicing the motions of living.

But within days of his orientation, Dr. Mallard slowly- or maybe slyly, insinuated himself into a companionable relationship, and grudgingly, Gibbs accepted it. Honestly, their tie required little time outside of the agency, and as his trust firmed with the medical examiner, he occasionally used the doctor as a willing and intelligent sounding board.

Before he settled into that union, Abigail Scuito exploded into and onto his existence.

Grinning, Jethro rubbed the bridge of his nose as he thought of the young Goth, effervescent with black pigtails, a big and generous heart, and the knowledge and forensic acumen to earn the respect of every government agency in D. C.

Gibbs pursed his lip, trying to recall a descriptive detail. What was that song Tony and Abby sang around the house over and over, the one about the demolition?

He focused, recalling the two belting out the lyrics one particular evening after supper, both balling their fists to act as microphones, and finally retrieved some of the song's ballistic refrain.

Oh yes, that would do as a descriptor.

Abby catapulted in like a wrecking ball, all right, and had slowly but methodically chipped away at all of his protective barriers, relentless to win him into her circle of loved ones.

And suddenly one day he entered her lab and found himself settled into an established role watching out for her and of regarding her with a protective perspective.

That avenue of response satisfied her, just having him touch base with a quiet question or reassuring kiss on the cheek cemented her security.

First Ducky, then Abby had forced him to begin observing some of the social niceties inside and outside of NCIS.

Nothing though, absolutely nothing- no, not even Ducky or Abby- compared to having Anthony Dinozzo blindside him one cold day in Baltimore, Maryland, as he worked an undercover case.

At that time a young precinct policeman, Tony tackled Jethro at a full run and hurled him to the ground, unaware that the two of them actually worked towards incarcerating the same dirtbag.

Despite his annoyance at his now blown cover, along with a painfully scraped and bruised body, Gibbs admitted to himself that the youngster fascinated him. His unimpeachable sense of moral justice resonated with Gibbs, as did his dedication to his Baltimore squad. Sharp and intelligent, Tony deliberately masked much of himself behind humor or with his natural good looks.

A notorious womanizer, his over six foot physique, animated green eyes, and innate talent in sports kept him busy and popular.

It wasn't until much later that Jethro realized Tony hailed from quite a bit of money, since he did his best to hide the fact. Still, the signs lay in the ways it unknowingly coloured his taste in women, food, and the arts.

Two weeks after the young man barreled him down, Leroy Jethro Gibbs hired him, and he had never regretted his decision.

Unlike Abby's low key demands upon his attention, Tony overtly depended upon his boss's approval for his own personal emotional security. Still, Gibbs had harbored no delusions about the agent's lack of self assurance. He knew from the day Tony sauntered into the door of NCIS that the young man needed him as a culmination of a mentor willing to lead, a boss capable of keeping him in check, and most crucially, as a surrogate father when the occasion warranted.

Gibbs shifted in his seat and studied the picture again.

As much as he recognized that he mattered to Tony, Tony never distinguished that he had enriched Jethro's own life.

_**The first time NCIS senior field agent Tony Dinozzo made the acquaintance of FBI agent Tobias Fornell had proved traumatic, but to Jethro, that introduction testified more as a statement of Tony's resilience.**_


	2. Emergence

Emergence

A case aboard Air Force One had provided their introduction to Kaitlyn Todd, future NCIS team member and then a current Secret Service agent for the President of the United States. Because of the prominence of the case and the power at its center, it had spawned a turf battle pitting NCIS, the FBI, and the Secret Service against each other.

A regular turf war took them all to the mat, fighting for law enforcement supremacy.

Thanks to the incredible cunning practiced by Jethro, Tony, and Ducky, NCIS won the bragging rights.

However, the hard scrabbled victory came dragging a price in its wake, and a sacrificial Dinozzo had suffered the high cost for the team.

Opening his eyes in surprise, Jethro recalled that the aftermath of that night actually cemented his relationship with Tony, or rather, his protective streak toward the young man's welfare.

Wiggling into a more comfortable pose, Gibbs paused to softly rub his knee before he returned to the Air Force One memory.

Tony had not known that in that era, Gibbs and Fornell shared a tenuous bond, having both found themselves married to the fiery redhead Dianne, and subsequently divorced from Dianne, though not at the same time. Since both had once jumped through Dianne's fire, so to speak, their united experience had created as close to a friendship as Jethro had with anyone in active enforcement.

Still, work was work, and when Toby discovered Gibbs had engineered a switcheroo, replacing Dinozzo with the dirtbag suspect's body the FBI erroneously thought it had in custody, he enacted revenge. The ruse came to light when Tony's cell phone rang from the body bag where he lay hidden in the FBI's car, and Fornell lost no time slamming on the brakes and tossing Tony out on the highway's grass and gravel shoulder.

Hours later Jethro Gibbs jogged wearily into Abby's lab. Propping her chin on one hand, she stared intently at the computer screen at her desk, twirling a pigtail as she concentrated.

She spied Gibbs.

Hurrying to her feet, she threw her arms around him and assured him she had been frantic about his well being.

"I'm ok, Abs," he reassured, untangling her arms and facing her. "In fact, I'm heading to Ducky's to take a nap on one of the autopsy tables. I just came down to see if you had seen Dinozzo lately."

Tapping her lips with a forefinger to signal quiet, she whispered sotto voce, "Leave him, Gibbs, because he endured a beating tonight with that gravel and says he just wants a couple of hours of sleep."

"I know that, Abs…"

She pointed to the side of her desk, and Jethro peeped to see.

Tony lay sprawled across her cotton stuffed futon, sound asleep, arm thrown over his eyes and one of her lab coats spread over him as a blanket. "He needs to rest desperately."

Jethro nodded before crossing to observe his agent. Stooping down to examine Tony, he frowned and straightened almost immediately, "Abby, go get Ducky. I can see blood on Tony's shirt and pants."

Obeying at once, she slapped one hand to her mouth and practically ran from her lab. She returned with Dr. Mallard, who acknowledged Gibbs with a nod.

Jethro pulled Abby to him and they watched from a distance of a couple of feet.

Scrutinizing his patient, Dr. Mallard adjusted his glasses and began to work, his hands practiced and capable.

"I hate to do this, but I need to rouse the lad," Ducky murmured, regarding Jethro and Abby over the rims of his lenses. "I simply can not assess his injuries with his clothing covering him." Kneeling, the medical examiner began shaking the agent to wake him.

Uncooperative, Tony scrunched tighter into his futon cocoon, emitting a low moan as he did.

Movement brought pain.

Ducky adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. "Abigail, scurry to autopsy and grab my black medical bag, please. I'm going to need it."

Bestowing a pitying look upon Tony, she left, troubled by the gravity of the situation in her lab.

Watching her depart, Ducky swiveled to regard Jethro. "Could you?"

Understanding the doctor's plea, Gibbs bent down and grasped Tony under the arms, pulling his body upwards. "Tony, hey, sit up for me now. I need you awake."

The agent groaned instead, reluctant to change his position and bring about additional pain, but Gibbs brushed back the agent's bangs and spoke more insistently, "Dinozzo, I did not offer the option of lying down, so sit up right now!"

That tone of voice made the difference, and the young man struggled to consciousness and slowly sat as ordered, though he cast a hurt expression at his boss once he settled.

Patting him encouragingly on the back, the medical examiner spoke soothingly, "All right, now, Anthony, I need you to stand. Jethro and I will aid you."

Noting Abby's return, he grabbed the medical bag and began rummaging through it before directing her to leave them alone a few minutes.

Understanding the necessity of privacy, she appreciated his reasoning. She pointed towards her lab to show where they could find her later.

The men helped Tony struggle to his feet, and both exchanged knowing glances with each other. The agent had endured some knocks, all right.

The young man in question tried to appear alert, and then attempted to make conversation until Gibbs directed, "Hey, you are not in trouble, Tony. Ducky just wants to give you an exam and check the damage."

That made sense, and so the agent cooperated when ordered to remove his shirt and pants, and even stood still as Ducky cleaned several open abrasions and put stitches in three other cuts. Still, the process proved painful, and Gibbs noted Tony biting the edge of his lip several times.

Bandaging the last of the wounds Dr. Mallard instructed Tony to get dressed. They watched as he carefully slid into his shirt, then turned away as he laboriously pulled on his trousers and tucked in his shirttail.

Ducky faced Gibbs. "Besides the obvious trauma, the deep bruising all over his body will make him pretty uncomfortable for some time. He needs rest, plenty of it, and absolute inactivity."

Overhearing as he fastened the last of his shirt's buttons and approached, Tony protested, "Ducky, I've worked with a lot more knocks than what I took on that pavement tonight. You can believe me, I'm good."

"Still," Dr. Mallard insisted, "your body needs sufficient time to heal. You endured quite a bit of serious trauma tonight, Anthony."

Ducky motioned to Abby that she could rejoin them. She signaled back that she would meet with them momentarily.

"Thanks, Ducky, for the doctoring," Tony grinned weakly as pulled on his shoes, "and I will exude good health come dawn tomorrow. I have to write my report in the morning, so you can come witness me transformed once again to my stunning self."

"No," Jethro snapped, surprising himself at the vehemence of the response. "No, you will not go home, and you will not be at work tomorrow…"

"Whoa, Boss, I…." Tony protested, wide eyed at the contradiction and the emotion behind it.

"Do not interrupt me again," Jethro ordered, narrowing his blue eyes at his protégé. "Consider yourself benched until I inform you otherwise that you may return to the agency."

The shock in the Dinozzo's face acted as a slap to his boss. He had honestly not meant to scare the agent. "Tony listen just a second," he continued softly, "I did not reprimand you. The benching is not punishment. I meant that until you have recovered, you will not work, and that you have to regain your health before you return to shouldering your usual workload."

Mollified, Tony nodded at the explanation, glancing from Gibbs to Dr. Mallard for confirmation.

"I expect you to remain resting, Anthony, not up and gallivanting like you normally do," Ducky reiterated. "That means no day time and no night time shenanigans until you have recovered completely."

Tony's lip puffed out and he lapsed into his pouting mode, designed to circumvent instructions or consequences he did not welcome.

The ploy did not escape his boss, who quickly intervened. "No problem," Gibbs patted Tony on the back and announced with finality. "Relax, Ducky. I will personally supervise Tony's activities since he will stay at my place until you clear him for action, Duck."

Abby joined them just as Jethro's words settled onto Tony's consciousness, and he reacted instantly.

Realizing the magnitude of his no nonsense boss cracking the whip non stop, Tony barely restrained his panic. "Wait, though, Boss," he stammered, trying to diplomatically make his escape from the impromptu recovery schedule. Turning to his friend to provide the right words, he mouthed pitifully, "Save me, Abby!"

In response she shrugged her shoulders and held out a hand to him, frowning to signal she sympathized but would not intervene.

Tony licked his lips. His only potential ally had deserted his cause.

Grinning at the young man's perceived dread, Ducky added his final thoughts, "Now I will have no worries that my orders have fallen to the wayside with Jethro cracking the whip. Certainly you will do much better with a caretaker."

He smiled with satisfaction as he watched Abby wrap an arm gently around Tony's waist and help him out of her lab and towards the parking area.

Following behind, Gibbs listened to Tony fill the forensic scientist in on what she had missed with Ducky's examination, the explanation presented partly as realism and partly to entertain his friend. Surreptitiously glancing behind him at his boss's stern figure when they approached the agency exit door Tony whispered, "I can see it now, with my life on hiatus- no basketball, no fun time, and no any kind of anything at the House of Gibbs."

Attempting to console him, she murmured in response, "Those will all be great future activities, Tony. As soon as you feel better I'll join you for popcorn and a movie or something just as delightful, ok?"

Stopping mid-step, Tony's face lit and his voice became animated. "Hey, I have to visit my place since I need clothes and toiletries. So if we go ahead and drive that far, it would just make good sense to have me stay under my own roof rather than inconvenience the boss."

Savvy to Tony's line of thinking, Jethro certainly anticipated a fight.

"Not a chance," he snapped decisively, thus effectively initiating a ritual honored from that very night. Thus began the spectacularly dramatic first of dozens of times when NCIS team leader Jethro Gibbs over ruled Tony's objections or wishes and stepped in as both boss and surrogate dad to his agent.


	3. Advancement

Advancement

Regardless of the facts, though, should anyone suggest aloud that his senior field agent considered him a father, or even viewed him as a father, Jethro categorically denied it. Not for some years did he even admit to himself, honestly, that he occupied that role and had done since shortly after Tony joined the agency.

Still, he easily discerned that his approval meant everything to the kid.

That Dinozzo realized he could count on him was not news to Jethro, nor was the fact that everyone else realized Gibbs was the absolutely only person capable of making Tony obey or fall in line, even against his own wishes.

Months later in another case Tony landed into the clutches of a woman bent upon enacting revenge from a group of servicemen who had attempted to smuggle human cargo from the Philippines.

The team's investigation into the crime led Dinozzo straight to her, though at the time, they had set their sights on another man, certain they had identified the murderer.

Determined to halt their progress and finish her mission of annihilating all of the men involved, she drugged and imprisoned the agent. Not only was he in the way, but also a victim to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Once he grasped Dinozzo was in danger, Gibbs stormed into solving the kidnapping with single minded fury and concentration. Formulating, investigating, and discarding one lead after another he kept reminding himself that in the last hours he had spent with the young agent, he had treated him with nothing but impatience. Though snappish during whole sections of the workday, his behavior of late had surpassed that.

Guilt stabbed him as he barked orders, analyzed leads, and pieced together the facts once they surfaced.

But terror gripped him as well, clawed at him and ignited a fear deep down in his soul that he would find him too late, that he would fail him, and that he would pinpoint the location and then discover Tony dead.

Rubbing temples throbbing from stress as precious hours passed with no contact, he prayed that Tony's faith in him would prove correct.

For the first time in years he wanted to deserve the trust given by another person.

Less than a month after he had hired him Jethro blasted Tony after the kid made himself a target for an escaped convict so that Gibbs could enact an ambush. They got the bad guy in the end, but Jethro lit into Tony at the top of his voice, a blistering reprimand that lasted nearly five full minutes.

All the while Dinozzo stayed silent, hands balled in pockets, and alternated by either meeting his infuriated team leader's gaze, or clenching his jaw and focusing upon other areas of the agency.

Finally exhausted from the torrent of angry words, Gibbs sucked in a deep breath and demanded rhetorically, "Do you think you finally comprehend what I have just spent all this time getting straight? Do I need to repeat myself to you or maybe just point you towards the exit door?"

Jaw still clenched, Tony flinched at both the tone and the implication, which Jethro witnessed as his angry words manifested themselves upon the boy's expression.

The stark look of devastation ricocheted and Jethro experienced a feeling of unbearable failure. He reached out and put his hand onto Tony's shoulder, finally clearing his throat and concluding with a gentler tone, "You scared me today. Your life means more to me than some dirtbag's. Don't take a chance like that again."

Disbelief, embarrassment, relief, and fear crossed over Tony's face but he answered firmly, "Yes sir, I've got it, and no, you do not have to repeat yourself to me."

His green eyes met his boss's blue ones.

Jethro squeezed his shoulder, turned loose, and wagging a finger, motioned Tony to follow him to the floor below.

Trailing a couple of steps behind, Dinozzo offered softly, "Boss, you know that I knew you would get to me. Inside myself, I mean, I have no doubt that you will find me."

Yes, Leroy Jethro Gibbs most definitely would.

He got to him in time during that death defying situation, and he brought him back safely from the human trafficking case.

Despite the fact that he acted nonchalant about securing Tony's release and saving his life, Tony pressed and pestered Gibbs until his mentor admitted that Tony was irreplaceable.

Within days of his hiring, Tony had studied and analyzed every nuance of Jethro's personality. His psychological homework proved advantageous, since he harbored no problem in reading his boss after that.

More from years of playing sports under some razor sharp demanding coaches, Dinozzo especially possessed a healthy respect for his boss's temper, and generally went out of his way to fly under his supervisor's radar.

Still, though, just like the fictitious Peter Pan, his child like perspective would surface and manifest itself into questionable behavior at times, forcing Gibbs to react not as team leader, but as a parent would when confronted with a child's blatant transgression.

For example, at the height of their search for a terrorist they still had not identified with an actual name or occupation, a fact which frustrated and tormented Gibbs, Tony lit off to pursue an attractive female he had encountered while jogging.

His boss, incredulous and furious, seethed, and once Tony finally resurfaced Jethro tore him out of the frame with a blistering tirade, a consequence and response to the immature behaviour.

It worked that day, and left Tony so chastened that he tiptoed around Gibbs for days afterwards.

Still unfortunately, the young man managed to bring down Jethro's wrath on his head every couple of months.

After witnessing the team leader chastise the agent once again when Tony lifted Jethro's cell phone to check outgoing calls, Ducky chided Gibbs later. "You have no reason to think you are redirecting him permanently with that type of response, Jethro. Still, he needs a consequence from you."

Jethro turned an annoyed expression in Ducky's direction.

The doctor continued his counsel. "Good man, do see that your interaction with him actually grounds Anthony, secures him in an inexplicable way? From the little that I have gathered concerning his family life, he managed to rear himself from the point at which his mother died. You know that his father disappeared for months on end and left Tony with no sense of security. As his boss, and as his surrogate parent, young Anthony needs interaction with you and from you, Jethro, even if some of that proves unpalatable to him."

Irritated at Ducky's insight, which he knew to be on target, Jethro shrugged off the words with a dismissive gesture. At heart, though, he agreed with the assessment.

Nevertheless, he reminded himself, he certainly did not sign on an agent to acquire someone dependent upon him.

Nope, his life as a solitary, untethered Marine sniper turned law enforcer had fulfilled him the past years and would continue to give him satisfaction.

That was all he needed- that, and his job as an agent, and his after hours life in his basement.

Unable to compose a good comeback for the medical examiner Jethro countered, "Since you are such an expert, why don't you make Dinozzo your project?"

"Absolutely not," Dr. Mallard answered with finality. "He needs you, Jethro. I have nothing to offer him. Have you not listened to a word I uttered these past minutes?"

Still not willing to concede, Jethro rubbed his chin. "Ok, well let's just not blow things out of proportion. He has stayed with me a few times because I can't trust him out of my sight when it comes to his health."

"Certainly," Ducky smirked. "That makes perfect sense. However, what about that two weeks around Christmas? If I recall, young Anthony's health appeared robust."

Gibbs shot his friend an irritated glance. "Apparently you have conveniently forgotten that last December shattered the record temps in D.C., and also that Dinozzo ranks as low man on the totem pole of government pay scales. No way could he have afforded to heat that apartment of his through that month."

Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to rub in his point, Ducky decided upon mercy and instead, grinned. "I do recognize the young man's struggles, Jethro, and I sympathize with your plight. Something about the lad just tugs at any vestiges of protection I have."

_**Shaking his head, Gibbs met his friend's gaze, started to respond, then decided against it. Grinning instead, he gulped a swallow of coffee.**_


	4. Maturation

Maturation

Opening his eyes, Jethro stretched slowly and deliberately before leaning forward to examine his leg. His knee appeared swollen, or at least more distended than normal. Glancing at his coffee cup he braced himself for a painful reaction, and slowly rose from the sofa and hobbled the several feet to the kitchen.

He poured a fresh cup of coffee, grateful that the carafe housed so much, and then began to rummage the cabinets above the pot. In the past couple of hours he had run nearly two blocks to take down a suspect, aggravated his bum knee in the process, suffered through a blistering lecture from Ducky as the physician examined him, made it home, yet, had failed to grab something to eat.

His stomach rumbled.

Somehow since he had hired Tony his larder stayed perpetually full, whereas in his pre Dinozzo days his refrigerator would hold an occasional steak but little else, while his cabinets functioned solely to house dishes.

Yanking open the refrigerator door Gibbs shook his head at the change in the home food supply playing field. Without moving containers and dishes around in the crammed space it was impossible to itemize the contents because the shelves simply overflowed.

Jethro shopped and loaded the grocery cart with Tony in mind, though he executed the shopping trip by selecting choices for Dinozzo which he increased in small increments over the years. It worried him that the young man ate so haphazardly, and with no nutritional consideration whatsoever. Though personally guilty of ignoring his own health the vast majority of the time, he had no problem insisting Tony eat better since the kid ate at his place a great amount of time anyway.

Now his kitchen generally stayed stocked with the basics of full breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

Not excited by anything in the depths of the refrigerator Jethro shut the door softly and leaned against it.

Somehow or somewhere in those first months Tony showed up for a meal once a week, then twice a week, and now, pretty much at least once a day.

It bothered him that Tony still could not just accept that someone would simply want to purchase something with him in mind. His gratitude to his boss always shook Jethro, and his contributions to the groceries centered around what he knew his boss liked.

Gibbs glanced around the small kitchen and regarded the dining table, once just a space hindrance. Now it showed signs of routine use and wear and tear. They had shared so many meals over the years that Tony's familiarity with the kitchen surpassed Jethro's.

Stretching, Jethro settled for a banana from the bunch on the counter and cradled it, along with his coffee, as he limped his way back to the couch. Reclining against the cushions again he sucked in a breath, eased his leg back onto the coffee table, and allowed his mind to continue to wander.

_**That first year he had spent mostly appreciating the wisdom of his instinct, that same instinct which had allowed him to hit the jackpot by hiring Tony as an agent. He had trouble even imagining a more capable partner. The second year, though, he found himself actually drawn to the agent's flair for drama, and Jethro let himself take his place as a willing audience to the entertainment Tony provided.**_

Tony teased Kate about her love life, mainly because of her transparency and the guarantee that she would respond rather than ignore. She always left him well aware that his needling over her relationships bothered her with her reactions ranging from annoyed to hysterical. This, of course, he used to his advantage.

Despite their compatible partnership in the field, and their strong working relationship outside of the office, the two fought like preschoolers several times a week within and without the walls of the agency.

A good example of their back and forth surfaced the morning a case fell into their laps which centered upon a mother and son plotting to kill Ducky.

Tony, he discovered after Kate summoned him at the top of her lungs, had learned Kate's current flame was none other than his college fraternity brother. Capitalizing on the relationship, Dinozzo obtained just enough confidences to dangle tidbits of information over Kate and to send her into a tizzy.

Forced to intervene, Jethro voiced his displeasure with them several times that morning, which further cemented his underlying suspicion that he ran a kindergarten.

One evening as he and the director conferenced upstairs Morrow abruptly pointed to the close circuited television shot of the bullpen below. "Jethro," the Director asked, voice and expression deadpan, "look at that screen. Is that a food fight your team is waging with each other? If so, should we expect casualties?"

Sure enough, after craning his neck to conduct a close inspection the team leader acknowledged that yes indeed, Kate and Tony hurled food at each other one government issued floor below them.

To torment each other, they had perfected the approach of not even having to be in the same physical area to take jabs at each other. On one of their investigations Tony worked undercover with a convicted killer and unfortunately, found himself in a traffic accident with the inmate cuffed to him.

Racing to his aid, Jethro and Kate relaxed somewhat when they discovered a witness who assured them Tony had looked relatively unscathed before the two took off again. However, with more targeted questioning he volunteered to Jethro and Kate that Tony had lost his raggedy haired shih tzu dog named Kate.

The real Kate failed to appreciate the humor and sputtered with indignation, but Gibbs could not hide a smirk.

Yes, Tony never minded interjecting comic relief into the workday, and in a multitude of instances it had provided the psychological release that laughter elicited at critical moments for the team. In jobs where they spent weeks saturated with all the sordid ugliness law enforcement confronted, Dinozzo seemed to have been blessed with a sense of when to produce a diversion.

It depended upon the timing, he once joyfully assured Jethro.

Tony genuinely cared for his coworkers, and Gibbs always felt a twinge of guilt when he watched his senior field agent deflect his boss's anger away from them, and then funnel it onto himself. The first couple of times the ricochet transpired he simply absorbed the information and batted it around in his mind later, attempting to discern Tony's ulterior motive. None too plausible surfaced, so finally he confronted Tony one night after the others had packed up belongings and made their ways home.

Dinozzo appeared absorbed in something on the computer screen. Savvy to his boss's nuances in behavior, he had a gift of acting as a chameleon at work, blending in with the task at hand, when his spidey senses alerted him that Jethro had him in his crosshairs.

He pretended to read, brow furrowed as he studiously encountered the text.

"Why do you protect them like that, Tony," Jethro requested pointedly, leaning forward with his forearms resting on his desk's top.

The agent jerked his head sharply at his boss's voice.

Licking his lips nervously, he weighed whether to reply honestly and risk instantaneous wrath, or fabricate something and live in dread that his boss would later discover that he had lied.

Scanning Jethro's body language, he opted for honesty.

"Maybe because," Tony smiled shyly, drumming his fingers lightly on the side of his keyboard and awarding Gibbs a lopsided grin, "maybe because I'm like the older brother for them and would like to keep them out of trouble when I can."

Several seconds elapsed as still- not- satisfied blue eyes met green ones.

"Perhaps," Jethro acknowledged. "What else, though? Why do you always make yourself the target? Taking one for the team means once in a while and not all the time. You do a pretty good bit of sacrificing yourself, Tony."

Not able to come up with a clever retort, Tony just raised his eyebrows.

"Speak," Gibbs demanded, jabbing his forefinger demandingly in Tony's direction. "I mean now."

"Well, I just know you. I know you better than they do, Boss," he concluded simply.

Tilting back in his desk chair Gibbs crossed his hands behind his head and shrewdly regarded his right hand agent, who had already returned to his fascination with the computer screen's offering.

Nodding, Jethro considered the excuse and agreed with the explanation. Yes, indeed, Tony knew what made his boss tick.

Basically, Anthony Dinozzo and Leroy Jethro Gibbs forged an unbreakable bond through those first introductory months.

That second year Team Leader Gibbs determined that his senior field agent was far more of a complex personality than he had previously thought.

No, actually, he had always pegged Tony as an agent with deeply rooted emotions. The range of those emotions, though, that scope-

Now that did manage to surprise him, both with what sentiments Tony held inherently when he joined NCIS, and also with those additional ones that he absorbed and finessed under Jethro's omnipotent watch.

An octogenarian named Ernie Yost marched into NCIS and turned the team's world upside down, and when it righted they had all transformed, but none so evidently as Anthony Dinozzo.

Some extra special something instantaneously bonded Ernie to Tony, while Gibbs witnessed it unfold as he and the team hastened to prove to the World War II veteran that the decorated soldier had not murdered his buddy during combat years before.

Despite his initial reluctance to acquiesce to Jethro's explicit order to do so, Tony catapulted into his role as Ernie's protector and cheerleader wholeheartedly once he accepted the directive. Despite the several decades spanning their age difference, the two shared an innate sense of justice and the ethical desire to correct wrongs and make them right.

After leaving NCIS, Tony spent the night at Ernie's home, but en route, talked the loquacious gentleman into supper at a great restaurant and then a stopover at a local carnival. After enjoying heaping plates of pasta with delectable garlic bread, they methodically worked their ways through the fair's attractions, playing as many games as time allowed and winning a tremendous stuffed giraffe in the process.


	5. Transformation

Transformation

When he finally unlocked his front door that night and ushered in his guest, Ernie Yost assured Tony that he had not enjoyed such entertainment for years. He had, Tony discovered, nursed his wife for half a year before she died earlier in the month.

Watching raw, agonizing pain distort the man's face as he spoke, Tony patted the sofa beside him. "It would honor me greatly, Ernie Yost, if you would introduce me to your late wife with a couple of stories about her."

Sitting up straight against the sofa, Tony met the veteran's gaze.

In the pit of his stomach he realized how badly the widower wanted to describe and share his wife, to have her exist in someone else's thoughts.

Finding it hard to keep his emotions under control, Tony bit the side of his lip. Despite the evasive tactic, the tragedy of the loss slammed into him.

Yet he had presented a way to channel Ernie's desperation to honor his lost spouse. He would never forget the gratitude on Ernie's face.

What made Jethro Gibbs proudest, though, was the scene he witnessed when Faith Coleman led a contingent into the bullpen to remand World War II veteran Ernie Yost to naval custody. Protectively sliding in front of Ernie, Tony positioned Ernie's collar to expose the veteran's Medal of Honor, forcing the military visitors to stop, salute, and award him the respect due such a war hero.

That story produced a happy ending, for Tony, and for Ernie.

Jethro rocked on the sofa cushion, shifting side to side several seconds before ushering in the next recollection, a much more horrifying encounter for Tony and for Jethro.

Through the diabolical conniving of a woman bent upon avenging her daughter's rape, Tony inhaled the YPestis, a plague both deadly and terrifying to behold.

Before Jethro could begin to determine and trace the origin his agent's lungs suffered irreparable damage, and Tony lay debilitated within hours. His only sliver of luck existed because of his status as the subject of the military's finest physicians as a patient at Bethesda. One in particular, Doctor Brad Pitt, worked diligently day and night, determined to keep the agent alive.

It took weeks before his hospital dismissal, and even then the physical toll scared Tony's colleagues. The NCIS team member returned to them post plague scarcely resembled the physically fit senior field agent who played every sport he could and whose physique peers had long admired.

Besides his deteriorated physical state, Tony simply refused to accept that any delay should follow his illness and keep him away from work more than a couple of days. Once his fever broke he began to rail against even an hour more of further hospitalization, insisting loudly and repeatedly that he could and would recover at his own apartment.

Cabin fever- it slammed Tony over the head and he fought against every second he lay confined to a sterile Bethesda hospital bed.

Dr. Pitt consulted with Dr. Mallard, and neither man would agree to Tony's impassioned pleas. Still, both sympathized with the agent, who defined most of his existence by his status as an agent and desperately wanted to rejoin his team.

He considered himself a victim jettisoned into the clutches of the naval hospital.

Stubbornly Tony continued to rail against the medical decision, and when his begging and threats did nothing to sway the outcome, he finally resorted to sulking and refusing to cooperate.

That set into motion quite a crisis, as Tony's mental health and physical health, beginning to noticeably improve days before, reversed dramatically.

At a loss at how to proceed from that new point, Brad left orders with the staff to contact him stat when Agent Gibbs next arrived. Thanks to technological communication, the Bethesda staff alerted Dr. Pitt and he raced from his rounds to buttonhole Jethro the following morning.

Though a bit intimidated by the nearly tyrannical Marine and team leader, Brad felt passionately enough about Tony's decline to swallow his reservation.

Gibbs listened to Brad's concerns without responding. After several minutes of outlining damage, Tony's prognosis, future medical issues, and the current health situation, the doctor finally stopped speaking.

Not sure what to do once the spiel ended and Jethro stood sternly and silently like a totem pole, he finally stammered awkwardly, "that, then, uhm, that is what I wanted you to know, to share with you, Agent Gibbs."

Nodding, Jethro assured him tersely, "I will take care of it."

"But," Brad began, not sure that Gibbs understood the magnitude of the situation, "if he continues to refuse…."

Turning his body in dismissal, Jethro interrupted impatiently, "It's done."

With that, Gibbs made his departure from the doctor, stalked into the Intensive Care Area, and positioned himself at Tony's bedside.

Tony lay sleeping restlessly, moving uncomfortably a bit in the bed, and Gibbs smiled at his resemblance to a teenager. Reaching out a hand, he softly brushed back the younger man's bangs.

His senior field agent opened his eyes at the touch and attempted to grin at his boss. It took a bit more energy than he had. Though his breathing was labored and shallow, he wanted to speak to his visitor.

"Hey," he whispered, trying to brace his arms on the bed's side rails. "Glad to see you, Boss."

Gibbs slid a hand behind Tony's back and grasping the young man's arm with his other, assisted him in sitting up a few degrees just as Brad joined them.

Huffing in annoyance at the sight of the unwelcome Dr. Pitt, whom Tony considered his archenemy at that point, Tony eyed the physician warily. Automatically, he formed his mouth into a pout.

Glancing at him, Gibbs envisioned a flash of what Abby would say if she walked into the scene, and that would certainly revolve around Tony's spidey sense having found itself activated.

"Tony, I have just concluded speaking with Agent Gibbs," Brad began, his tone friendly and conspiratorial, "and alerting him that your recovery will take quite a while longer."

The patient took advantage of the lull as Brad searched for his next sentence. Turning immediately to Jethro, Tony attempted to enlist him as an ally against the ridiculous demands of the Bethesda physician. He sputtered indignantly between breaths, "Boss, Dr. Pitt has no concept of what reality is in a normal working world. He refuses to let me…"

Interrupting the rest of the complaint, Jethro ordered, "You have finished speaking, Tony."

Startled, the young man continued anyway, ignoring the directive in his eagerness to solicit a comrade, "Boss, I…"

"I believe you were just told to get quiet," Jethro raised his voice a bit. "Do it at once. I have no intention of repeating myself."

That did the trick, and Tony settled against the pillow, smugly certain with that order that Jethro just wanted to keep him from calling out Doctor Difficult Pitt right in front of the man. Ok, well, he could bide his time and express his disappointment loudly and clearly once the doctor left to devil someone else.

Brad looked quizzically at Gibbs, having no clue to the direction of the man's future machinations.

Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose, but smiled reassuringly at Tony. The past weeks had shaken him more than he cared to admit. Those first days of suffocating dread and certainty that Dinozzo would die nearly paralyzed him with hopelessness. Still, he fought giving in to despair and he fought the only way he knew to fight these days, by throwing himself into the case so completely that he could not sacrifice a moment to emotional pain.

Noting Jethro's smile, and delighted at the prospect that his boss would save him from Brad, Tony bestowed a smirk upon the unsuspecting physician, batting his eyelashes.

Sadly for the patient, the opposite occurred.

"Look at me, Tony," Gibbs demanded in that no-nonsense tone Tony knew better than to disobey. "We are going to cover this once, then I expect that you will have no misconceptions after I finish."

Off guard, Tony opened his mouth to respond but Jethro narrowed his eyes meaningfully.

With a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach, it dawned on the young man that his mentor- his boss- had shaken him loose and joined forces with the enemy.

Gibbs did not allow him any time to mull what that meant before he continued decisively, "Dr. Pitt is not only your physician, Tony, but at Bethesda, this man's your superior. If he reports that the behavior you display is anything less than cooperative after I walk out of here today, you will find yourself answering to me."

For that expressive formalizing of the law, Tony rewarded Brad with a mutinous look, then puffed his lips into his trademark pout as Jethro's mandate continued.

"You will not leave this hospital until Dr. Pitt makes the decision that you have earned the right to leave by following his explicit instructions. From Bethesda he will discharge you into my care, and you will spend whatever further recovery time he deems necessary at my house. Ducky, of course, will take over a large part of the medical responsibility then, but until we all feel you strong enough, your butt will remain recuperating at my place. Have I made myself clear?"

So blindsided was Tony that he could not answer for nearly a minute. Until his boss's arrival he had already calculated that with a concerted effort on his part, he could force Bethesda to turn him loose within a few days.

The hospital would not have been able to withstand his sensible and emotional points of battle.

Watching the young man's struggle, Gibbs began to lose patience. "Tony, I asked if I made myself clear."

"Boss, just please listen," his agent begged desperately, hoping that the tide would somehow miraculously turn in his favor.

Holding out his palm, Jethro cut off the plea.

"I have no intention of humoring you in any way. I expect an answer." Gibbs regarded him sternly.

Sighing dramatically, Tony grumbled, shifting with aggravation at the outcome of the visit. "Ok, I heard you. I understand."

Gibbs reached over and placed a hand on his forehead before turning to leave. "Take care of that sulking before I visit tonight, Tony, because you will find yourself far more miserable if I return and get another bad report from your medical staff."


	6. Development

Development

Watching until his boss disappeared from view, Tony finally snapped his head towards his opponent to mutinously regard Brad. "Well, you should certainly be pleased with yourself."

"That I am," the doctor agreed, refusing to allow Tony to rile him. "But I am more impressed with the knowledge that you have someone who cares deeply for you. That scene that just transpired reminded me of my dad, of how he would react with me if I were the one so sick and in the hospital."

Despite his desire to remain annoyed, Tony smiled shyly at the comparison.

Eventually, of course, he left the hospital, and as promised, remained with Gibbs until nearly a month before his return to work.

He threw himself into satisfying the requirements his boss insisted he had to meet before resuming his position at NCIS, and Jethro agreed to let him return a week earlier than he had foreseen when he checked the days off the calendar Gibbs kept in his kitchen.

Ecstatic at his homecoming with the agency he loved, he thanked Jethro again and again for letting him walk back into the NCIS bullpen.

**Opening his eyes Jethro halted the reminiscence at that juncture, not willing right then to relive Kate's murder two days later. Pulling himself to a standing position he held his leg out in front of him and painfully flexed his knee. It hurt.**

Moving awkwardly and methodically, he gained his balance and paced first the length, then the breadth of the living room.

Those surreal days after Kate- truthfully the entire period of time encompassing Tony's ingestion of the pestis and Kate's murder- haunted him, though through a different filter than the deaths of his wife and daughter did.

He leaned on Tony, then, depended upon him desperately, though he never verbally articulated that to his second in command.

No, he never expressed it.

Probably Tony understood, though.

Jethro stopped pacing suddenly and focused on the sunny sliver of the outdoors he could discern from the window nearest him.

A bright red cardinal perched on the bird feeder Abby had begged him to build several months earlier. According to her, the birds needed the assurance that his yard would provide shelter and food should they desire it.

Unwilling to withstand the onslaught of pleas and tears which threatened to follow his initial refusal, he capitulated almost immediately.

Not that either Tony or Abby entertained the incorrect notion that they could one up their boss, Jethro reminded himself, but his reasoning stemmed from convincing himself that in actuality, the backyard needed a birdfeeder.

He pretended to have missed the smug looks which passed from Abby to Tony.

The cardinal flew from the perch towards the ground, evidently spotting something desirable in the green grass, and Jethro's concentration broke.

He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand and paced gingerly into the kitchen, then busied himself for several minutes preparing a fresh cup of coffee and heating up a bowl of chili leftover from the night before.

It never bothered him eating leftovers, probably because of his active tenure in the Marines. In this house, though, leftovers proved nearly non existent. Both Tony and Abby sported good appetites.

Carrying the steaming coffee and chili into the living room Jethro moved a couple of magazines and made a place to set the dishes on the coffee table.

He ate quietly, methodically, the way he had served himself every solitary meal for years, solitary because that defined him post-Shannon and Kelly.

When had that stopped as the norm?

Thinking, he scanned backwards through the years and hit upon the time the furnace in Tony's apartment building blew, leaving the occupants without heat.

The already brutal winter extracted its toll on everyone in the team as they simply made their way from the agency to crime scenes and back to their homes. Having no shelter in which to keep hypothermia at bay did not bode well for any of them.

But when Tony's furnace bit the dust, the young man did not call Jethro or anyone else, for that matter, to share that information. Tony simply acted.

Jethro discovered his senior agent sacked out in his guestroom that morning at five a.m., but only after he spied the glint of silver on the foyer table and identified Tony's car keys as he made his way downstairs.

Reversing his course, he jogged softly back up the stairs and peeped into the room.

Tony lay under an absolute mountain of covers. Evidently not satisfied with the sheets, heavy handmade quilt, and thick, down comforter which already comprised the bedding, he had raided the linen closet for extras.

Jethro stood in the door several moments more, marveling at how confident Tony felt in showing up at his boss's in the middle of the night.

The next time Tony found himself in need of heat and shelter he slipped into NCIS before dawn rather than risk bothering Jethro. He then proceeded to spend the next several hours attempting to discover if he would be welcome to stay with his boss again. It took Jethro some serious contemplation, along with a pointed observation from Ducky, to accept that his protégé allowed a fear of wearing out his welcome to keep him from simply traipsing back to his boss's guest room.

In his no nonsense method of responding Jethro straightened him out that evening, reiterating the consequences should Tony ever bypass his home again and head elsewhere. The younger man sat silent but attentive, recognizing that his best interests did not involve interrupting his mentor.

"Hey, look at me," Jethro finally concluded, his voice still firm and unyielding as he tapped Tony under the chin.

Dinozzo did, matching the unwavering gaze shyly and with a bit of self consciousness.

Sighing, Gibbs stepped back and regarded him shrewdly, his blue eyes softening to point out reassuringly, "I can not think of another soul I would rather stay with me, to spend time with me. Emergency or not, Tony-"

The pronouncement created a flash of pride which illuminated Tony's face and Jethro grinned, indulgently. "Get it straight that you will find yourself a very unhappy camper should I have to hunt you down to locate your whereabouts if something like this ever heads your way again. I mean it, on or off the job, it does not make a difference to me, and I promise that you will regret disobeying my orders. Always remind yourself the door's open for you, Tony."

Jethro Gibbs eased off of the door frame. How long ago had that scene unfolded? Was it years, or just months?

He rubbed his chin and tried to answer himself, then decided it really made no difference.

Tony believed him.

Gibbs turned to go but then abruptly pivoted to visually scan the bedroom. Knowing Tony, the boy had grabbed a snack before burrowing into the covers, and if so, the crumb covered plate would lurk somewhere nearby. Surprisingly, though, he could discern no dishes on the dresser or side table.

Once he climbed back down the stairs, made it into the kitchen, and powered on the coffee pot he spied the jar of peanut butter which Tony had failed to put back into the cabinet beside the stove. Inspecting the rest of the area he noted that the bread and jelly had made it back to their rightful places, along with the silverware, so at least the good intention of completing a cleanup had been made.

Returning to the present state of affairs, Gibbs snapped back into regarding his present situation and discovered he had eaten the entire bowl of the chili and had drained the coffee cup. Grabbing the dishes he rinsed them quickly in the kitchen sink, loaded them into the dishwasher, and helped himself to another cup of coffee before sitting again.

One glance at his cell phone and he noted a screen devoid of messages. Crossing his hands behind his head he sighed deeply at the assurance that no one needed him either physically or mentally for the next couple of hours.

The unexpected rest felt good, whether he admitted it or not, and he leaned his head back against his hands and the sofa cushion.

**His thoughts segued to those days he himself lay incapacitated in the hospital, having served as a target in a bomb blast aboard a ship. He learned later that his second in command had not missed a beat, and had swiftly taken charge with intelligence and dedication while his boss lay comatose and unresponsive. Later, of course, when Jethro handed in his resignation and turned his back on the agency, Tony again proved his ability to lead the team, but that time, as the rightful, rather than the substitute, leader. **


	7. Progression

Progression

No, Tony's proficiency and innate talent did not surprise anyone. Taking the initiative and shouldering control comprised skills Jethro noted in Tony before he even considered hiring him and taking him from Baltimore.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs walked away from the job after the bombing, shaking the dust of the agency from his clothes, barely acknowledging the goodbyes from his startled coworkers.

He pretended indifference at the departure, but inside he felt twinges of fear at walking away from NCIS. It tormented him that he would lose the only positive life he had lived since the deaths of his wife and daughter.

Reaching the elevator, he looked back once, steeled himself to remain in control as he spoke, and reassured them all verbally with the Marine Corp's motto.

To his second in command, he also bestowed the chin-up gesture he used solely with Tony.

His protégé met his gaze, unwavering, while still holding the gun and shield his boss had laid in his hands. That look spoke volumes, and to Jethro he communicated acceptance, and understanding, and above all, fortitude as his green eyes locked onto Jethro's blue ones.

Gibbs stepped into the elevator and collapsed against the back wall, breathing deeply before slapping his hands against the sides of his legs and straightening. Every inch of the space meant something to him, a remembrance of private snatches of conversation shared within the walls.

The good Dr. Mallard, relegated chauffeur for the evening, silently watched his attempt to separate himself from NCIS.

Afterwards, Gibbs paused his dramatic exit long enough to swing by the house and pack a carryall, cut off the lights, and request Ducky drive him to Dulles.

Watching the tarmac pass beneath him as the plane taxied down the runway a twinge of guilt knifed through him at the abrupt, callous departure. His team had formed the nucleus of the only real family he could hail as his, and it would prove difficult to automatically lose the protective and paternal streak he felt for Tony.

Nevertheless, and despite his instantaneous immersion into the role of team leader, the young man soared. The fact that Tony transitioned from subordinate to boss without missing a beat proved his maturity, his analytical reasoning, and his sensitivity to the people and events around him. What he accomplished on the job established his competence and earned him the respect and admiration of the other agents.

Later, once Jethro could think clearly again and decided to retake the reins of the team, the pride he felt at Tony's leadership behavior almost overwhelmed him. Admittedly he could take responsibility for his protégé's success resulting from his own personal tutelage, but then again, Tony brought his own brand of action and reaction to his duties and exhibited an unimpeachable devotion to the job.

They all rallied to assure him that his senior field agent had created an atmosphere of trust and camaraderie while establishing a spectacular case solving rate. What impressed Jethro most, though, lay in what he learned of Tony's determination to keep the team intact, despite the loss of Gibbs.

It took weeks of contemplation until he felt comfortable finally leaving Mexico to rejoin the agency.

Still, before taking back the helm, or verbalizing a public decision to do so, Jethro managed to expend many basement hours with his protégé discussing and arguing over the transition.

Tony had wanted him to return and had not shied from sharing his personal sentiments, contacting him regularly while Gibbs joined Team Mike Franks, where both time and energy funneled themselves into nothing other than relaxation and a dearth of accountability.

The unexpected buzzing of his cell snapped him from his reverie, and Gibbs sat up awkwardly and grappled with the phone, clumsily seeking to empower it.

He was rewarded when Ducky's Scottish brogue reminded him that he should be sleeping, or at the very least, reclining.

Annoyed, Gibbs assured him that he could recline in peace if Dr. Mallard would thoughtfully disconnect, and chuckling, Ducky did just that.

His momentum down memory lane had stalled. The interruption sent him back to the kitchen for a coffee refill, but instead of planting himself on the sofa again, he wandered back to the window and returned to his musing.

Despite Jethro's insistence that his presence was a temporary stay the first time he returned to the agency, Tony shrewdly viewed it as an opportunity to quash Jethro's desire for a Mexican sequel. Dinozzo reminded him of a pit bull in those uncertain days, constantly insisting on involving Jethro, even if only vocally, in current team investigations. Savvy to the motive, Gibbs patiently replied to the queries Tony assured him only Jethro could answer. The older man guessed that the ploy was designed to make him feel indispensable, and despite his usually irascible nature, he kept his suspicions to himself and replied to the queries.

Stubbornly, though, he quashed the scheme with adamant insistence that his retirement in Mexico was a fait accompli.

But several months later he did return to D. C. to put his house on the real estate market, not even interested if the market favored the seller or the buyer.

Tony joined him for a cowboy steak supper that evening, and his relief at having Jethro near caused the older man to temper his responses and allow the young agent to chatter without reprimanding him.

Instead, Jethro grinned indulgently.

Over-ruling Tony's objections much later, Jethro sent him upstairs to bed after reminding him sternly that it was, indeed, a school night, and he needed to re-energize for the demands of work the next day.

A couple of hours later when he peeped into the darkened room a sense of peace enveloped him, startling him with the intensity of the emotion.

Tony slept deeply, secure and reassured once again under the protection of Jethro's roof.

That reality resonated within Jethro, and he never forgot the stark realization that night that his own actions had granted Tony's serenity.

Having his mentor close at hand energized Tony, provided him with security, and confirmed that his existence really did matter to another human.

Whistling as he jogged down the stairs to breakfast the next morning, Tony's grin reflected delight at his perception of the new state of affairs. Before even tasting the scrambled eggs and crisp bacon Jethro placed before him, the young man began to strategize about his boss's imminent return.

His motive established, breakfast provided just one opportunity to break down his boss's objections.

Throwing caution to the wind, Tony campaigned non stop for Jethro to change his temporary return to returning as a permanent state of affairs.

They went back and forth for days, with Jethro often falling into exasperation at Tony's insistence that the team needed Gibbs for survival. "Nothing that I could do for or with the team would make it better than what you have built, Tony. You have excelled at the job, and you have been long overdue for a leadership position. Really, this argument has gotten ridiculous. You are now team leader."

"Understood, Boss," Tony agreed, smiling that sweet grin he sometimes shared, the one that did not quite go to his eyes. "None of that matters, though, because the team belongs to Leroy Jethro Gibbs. You created it, trained us for it, and taught us to investigate and anticipate, right?"

"Exactly, so continuing to devil me about returning permanently to Washington has you accomplishing nothing but wasting energy. NCIS needs you now, Tony, to continue to direct the others. The ball is in your court and not mine. I like it that way. Understand?"

Thoughtful green eyes met tired blue ones then, and the younger man responded simply, "I need you, though, Boss. Please."

Opening his mouth to contradict him, Gibbs abruptly stopped and scrutinized Tony instead. The plea had been shared without guile, or fear, nor as an attempt to curry favor. Jethro recognized that the words had been uttered with honesty.

Taken aback, he took a really good look at the young man and recognized fright, but fright tinged with hope.

Tony sucker punched him with the appeal, and as Gibbs reviewed what he knew of the young agent's childhood- the death of his mother and the emotional and physical alienation from his absentee father, his demeanor transformed.

The almost latent father side of him rose to respond in the circumstance, pushing aside the commander in chief identity he preferred and forcing him to consider the request from a perspective other than as a boss or as a Marine.

Sighing, Gibbs again scanned Tony's face and this time noted the hopeful expression, almost overshadowed by the fear evident in the green eyes.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighed, and resigned himself to the inevitable. "Do you now?"

"I do, Boss, yes" Tony responded firmly, drumming his fingers on the tabletop.

Just like that, Leroy Jethro Gibbs returned to his former position as NCIS team leader, and Tony slipped back into his role as senior field agent.

Probably if he admitted to himself that that he and Tony shared a relationship as much like a father and son as it was a boss and protégé, he would also acknowledge that the final conversation over his return had provided the intervention that shifted their entire bond.

From that point in their acquaintance, the way that he dealt with Dinozzo always had its roots established within the dormant parenting side of Gibbs.

Tony had wished it, and as this new development took hold, his confidence increased, initiating a new maturity and creating a man whose self reflection intensified.

Facing charges of murder later that year, Tony recognized the evidence of a set up, though that perspective did little to alleviate his terror. Not knowing the identity of his attacker, or the motive for the insurmountable smear campaign, undermined all of his self confidence. Further, his cooperation in the case came not from helping to actively solve it, but from learning of any updates as he agonized behind jail bars.

The accusation rocked Gibbs when he analyzed the extent to which the person who had framed Tony had gone. Jethro harnessed his own inner dread into a John Wayne style commando attack upon establishing and apprehending the person responsible, determined that Tony's name be cleared and his good reputation restored.

He worked non-stop, visions of Tony locked away driving him past exhaustion. The rest of the team collaborated right beside him, and even Fornell, he of the tarmac incident years earlier, scrambled to pull the case together and exonerate Dinozzo.

They succeeded, finally, hitting pay dirt when they connected a case from Tony's police days in Baltimore to a substandard lab tech and an incompetent medical examiner.

That provided a long overdue gathering of friends and colleagues celebrating Tony.


	8. Expansion

Expansion

Hours afterwards in his basement, Leroy Jethro Gibbs worked out his indignation as he hammered and drilled. Periodically, he glanced over at the hard wooden steps where a finally free Tony sat hunched in thought.

The young man had remained uncharacteristically silent since arriving, and Jethro gave him several minutes to sort his thoughts before he intruded. "Finished, Tony, it's a wrap."

Turning his head sharply Tony regarded his mentor with a small grin. It never ceased to amaze him that Gibbs could figure out exactly where his mind had focused. "Ok, right, Boss and thank you for protecting me."

"Don't think twice about it," Jethro advised with his own grin. "Protecting you is my job."

That incident certainly tightened the connection between the two men, but unfortunately, did not represent the last time Tony's life faced such a challenge.

Months later in a joint operation with the FBI the team lost contact with Tony and a teammate, Ziva David, who posed undercover as infamous husband and wife assassins.

The two agents established a rendezvous time and place to meet with one of the world's most wanted assassins for hire. That bad guy had contacted them initially to carry out a job for him.

The plan backfired when their future employer turned the tables on them and ordered his own hired guns to execute them in a hit.

Meanwhile, NCIS and the FBI scrambled to ascertain the whereabouts of Ziva and Tony after the loss of agency contact.

While Fornell, Gibbs, and the government agents frantically worked to locate them, Tony maneuvered the leader's focus onto himself. Relying upon his wits, he managed to procure Ziva her means of escape by insisting that she knew the whereabouts of very desirable information hidden in their hotel room.

Watching her exit alive and unharmed with the ringleader, Tony's relief washed over him, serving to calm his inner panic. He had no doubt that his Boss would have their hotel room under observation, and once his teammate got there, backup would guarantee Ziva's safety.

Before he could enjoy the fact that she would live, the desire for survival slammed him. His momentary peace of mind quickly transformed into a fight for his life when he turned to confront his attacker and discovered a knife at his throat.

Though tied to the chair and seemingly helpless, Tony fought like a caged animal, attempting to keep his attacker at bay and outwit him long enough for Jethro to find him.

At that, he succeeded.

Meticulously stitching and bandaging later, Ducky tended the injuries and the rest of the team hovered around Tony, still shaken over how closely he had escaped his own death. Tersely, Jethro ordered McGee to drive Tony to his house so he could personally witness his safety and watch over him, rather than have Tim escort him to the young man's apartment.

Emotionally and physically exhausted, Tony did not argue.

That was too close of a call.

Opening his eyes at the conclusion of the memory, Jethro contemplated the photographs on the mantle again, focusing for several seconds upon one of Abby and Tony in her lab at NCIS headquarters.

They posed for the camera with Tony's arm wrapped protectively around Abby's shoulders, drawing her against him. In turn she held onto his restraining arm with both hands, confirming the tie that bound the two. Both had worked together so long that their loyalty to each other on the job could not be breached, and they genuinely cared for the other.

An image popped into Jethro's mind of Paula Cassidy, an agent with whom Tony had shared an intimate relationship in the early years of the agency tenure. Months after they stopped dating she worked a case at NCIS headquarters with them, and not only did Gibbs warn Tony not to reignite the flame, but Abby did as well, confiding adamantly to Gibbs, "That girl never deserved our Tony in the first place!"

**With a sigh of resignation Jethro pulled himself upright and flexed his knee several times. Sitting lost in thought did nothing to soothe his muscles and joints. Massaging the sides of his knee he waited until the pins and needles feeling abated. Finally confident that he could walk to the kitchen without too much stress he paced himself slowly and paused to regroup.**

The coffee had grown cold. He poured out the remainder and readied a fresh pot, leaning against the counter as he watched the first dark drops fall from the filter into the well worn carafe.

Gravity certainly changed everyone, he mused. The liquid which funneled through one small aperture in the filter cup dispersed into every conceivable direction when it splattered into that pot.

Gibbs grinned at the carafe. The perking coffee made a great analogy for Tony's next year at NCIS, those unforgettable three hundred and sixty five days when the NCIS director set Dinozzo up with an alternate identity and ordered him to befriend the daughter of a notorious gun runner.

Like those dozens of drops of coffee, every area of Tony's personal and work lives exploded and imploded within the next months.

Leaning on the sink with his forearms, Gibbs opened the cold water tap and let it cascade over his hands. The shock of the water created an energizing sensation, enough to make him shut off the water and stand up straight.

Quickly filling the coffee mug he walked carefully back into the living room and up the stairs, finally stopping when he leaned against the door frame of Tony's room.

Gibbs smirked at the mental acknowledgement that he no longer called the room a guest room. Once Tony stayed under his roof and protection that first night, the dynamics of their relationship transformed. Without clarifying, elaborating, or even really discussing the symbolism of the room, Jethro watched his protégé jog up the stairs and into its depths one month after another month and year after year.

It did not escape the team leader's realization that he provided security to the younger man, as well as a firm hand.

Turning, Gibbs descended far more slowly than he wished. The stress of the steps on his knees jarred through his legs and he gritted his teeth- a futile gesture, but at least an effort at curbing the pain.

Ensconcing himself on the couch once again, he resumed his previous musing over those months of subterfuge while Tony struggled to serve two masters, NCIS Director Jen Shepard, and NCIS team leader Jethro Gibbs.

Shaking his head in annoyance, Jethro reminded himself of how underhanded Jen had acted. Just recalling it made him angry. She did not bother to invite him to share in knowledge of her proposal, and in fact, alienated him as much as possible in a bid to keep him clueless.

Strange, though they had engaged in pillow talk in the past, Jenny did not even entertain making him privy to the plan. Not until much later, months later, did he appreciate the full picture of the Director's machinations.

Looking back later, he pinpointed small occurrences and nebulous issues which he should have questioned. Had he acted proactively early on, Tony would not have suffered so bitterly. But he had not, because in truth, he was caught up in his own life those days, even falling into a romantic relationship with one Hollis Mann, with whom he had worked a few joint cases.

Of course, after the fact he stormed into Jen's townhouse and confronted her with barely disguised anger and disgust. So angry was he that when his former partner coolly took her seat on a leather high back chair he deliberately pinned her there by leaning against the front of the chair himself, inches from her face. Without allowing her to defend herself with a single interruption he verbally attacked, spitting out the syllables. She had destroyed an innocent girl, Dr. Jeanne Benoit, as revenge for a phantom motive. Claiming that Jeanne's father had murdered her own to rationalize her despicable actions held no substance. No, Jennifer's father had died by his own hand, a suicide, whether she acknowledged it or not.

At the mention of her father she narrowed her eyes and attempted to escape. Jethro refused to step away, determined that she understand the disgust he felt for her actions and motive.

When he finally felt some satisfaction at forcing his audience to listen he straightened, but leaned down to run a forefinger across her lips. "What a pity," he mused, "that such a beautiful mouth could find itself a weapon for propaganda."

Using both palms then she shoved furiously at his chest. "Get out!"

Not bothering to reply, he did just that.

Director Shepard conscripted Tony by playing upon his innate ethical practice. The indisputable truth existed that Rene Benoit, Jeanne's father, operated less than legally and through some questionable means. However, a big fish in guns he really was not. A more apt title would be as an interested party who dabbled rather than existed in that world. The Central Intelligence Agency viewed his role as just as trite, and had approached Benoit with an eye on helping them nail bigger and better bad guys. So, painting him as a global threat the way Director Shepard did clearly crossed the bounds of acting as an objective officer in an agency of the United States.

Determined to enact more damage than simply destroy her archenemy, Jen tapped Tony to approach Rene's daughter, Jeanne, who just so happened to work as a medical resident at a Washington hospital, and initiate a relationship.

Blowing his breath out in annoyance, Jethro felt the anger begin to build again as he rehashed those months in his memory. Snatching his mug he guzzled a swallow of warm coffee and narrowed his eyes.

His lifetime overflowed with guilt over his failures in sensing danger careening towards those who mattered to him, and at this point in his life he had accepted his own refusal to forgive himself for any of it.

Tony confided nothing of the Benoit saga to him, not simply because Jen had given him orders to stay silent, but because Jethro had proven more standoffish and impatient in the weeks surrounding the start of the mission. By the time Tony had begun to fall in love with the girl, and she had focused on him as her soul mate, Gibbs had tangled himself up with Hollis Mann. Tony stopped visiting the basement and with his off work, after hours time focused elsewhere, Jethro simply ignored the lapse and failed to investigate.

What a fiasco!


	9. Change

Change

Closing his eyes once more Jethro slid down on the couch so that he could pillow his head on the upholstered arm. Rubbing tiredly at his jaw he felt the clenched muscles.

Just recalling Jen's debacle put him on edge years later.

Those weeks haunted Tony now, Jethro knew, because eventually the young man had spent some time sharing his regrets with his mentor. He had truly believed that Rene Benoit, Jeanne's father, had escaped jail time and flown under law enforcement's radar for far too many years, and that duty demanded he should support his director's mission to take down the arms dealer.

Witnessing the raw emotion as Tony agonized over the horrible hurt he had caused an innocent Jeanne, along with the devastation the young man suffered at losing a woman with whom he could have married, Jethro searched for the wisdom to lessen the catastrophe.

He found none, but provided his support as Tony searched for some peace of mind, some type of closure, no matter how it evolved from personal condemnation.

Massaging his temples Gibbs exhaled sharply and pulled himself back into a sitting position. No good would come of continuing to wallow in Jen's downfall.

Standing stiffly, Gibbs moved lopsidedly to the fireplace and maneuvered the screen on the sides so that all of the space was covered.

He could not resist bending to take a quick glimpse of the flue, reminded of a case NCIS had solved involving a female serial killer.

Within the same time frame, Tony stumbled upon Tim's secretly published book and alternated between grilling his teammate and methodically solving the case.

Nothing would do until he read the novel cover to cover, which substantiated his suspicion that Agent McGee based the book upon his NCIS colleagues. For several days afterwards Tony would quote entire sections of Tim's masterpiece, always though at questionable times designed to fluster the Probie.

Tim never learned how to simply deflect the questioning. Instead, embarrassment, or perhaps guilt, would color his responses.

Jethro refrained from intervening, pretty confident that if he silenced the observations, the novelty would continue for weeks longer than it should.

The curiosity and astonishment had not been Tony's alone. Indeed, Abby, Jimmy, and Ziva also lent their voices to demand an explanation from Tim as to how his characters could so resemble his NCIS colleagues, despite his adamant denials.

The sudden opening of the front door followed by a gust of air halted any further musing over the agency's resident writer.

Evidently, a visitor had arrived.

Craning his neck, Gibbs watched warily as Dr. Mallard carefully closed the door before adjusting his glasses to focus upon him.

"Goodness, Jethro," the Scotsman began, "sit down at once. My explicit instructions, as I recall, involved you at home resting and giving your knee some time to heal. I had my trepidation that you would pay attention, and it appears I guessed correctly. Still, I can not take credit for cranking up the Morgan and driving here. Young Anthony dispatched me to check on you because he and Abby insisted you would head to the basement despite my wishes. You haven't been gadding about rather than resting, have you?"

Suspicious, Ducky eyed the couch, Jethro's expression, and the route towards the basement.

"**Absolutely not," Gibbs twisted the truth. "I have wandered memory lane from the sofa's cushions. That's all, Duck."**

**Dubious, Ducky smiled nevertheless, pleased to see some sparkle in his friend's blue eyes. "Any roadblocks?"**

"**No, but a few u turns and one way streets popped into the pavement."**

Barely an hour later Jethro waved goodbye to his buddy, then stood at the window and witnessed Ducky's departure.

Despite the obvious differences between the men, years before the two had forged a bond forged around their opposing personalities.

Gibbs tapped at the glass pane, his fingernail providing a dull but audible distraction. Outside a cardinal intent upon locating the last of the bird seed Abby had dispersed jerked sharply and then trilled in Jethro's direction.

The agent gave the bird an apologetic look in return and backed away, deciding to try to walk some of the kink out of his knee.

Straightening his leg, then pulling it back to him, he felt the burn and objection from the abused muscles and tendons. Really, age had made some distinctive but dubious progress. Twenty years ago he would have jogged the knee back into shape, pounding over rough terrain with a loaded knapsack strapped to him.

Wincing, he acknowledged ruefully that those days had ticked away some time ago. Some long time ago- as in many years ago- those days had left him.

He paced one side of the living room, then added the length of another, working his steps into a rhythm. Allowing his thoughts to sync into a cadence he focused once again upon Tony, reminding himself that it had taken some long, rough months after the Jeanne denouement for Tony to regain some of his joy and fun.

**The first time Jethro really felt Tony had picked up some of the pieces of himself destroyed by Jenny and Jeanne surfaced when the team boarded a ghost ship, aptly named after some mythological beast or ne'er do well. **

**What was it? The Hades? The Cyclops? The Chimera?**

Jethro paused at that one and nodded. Chimera sounded right for that ship's name.

They had not walked the decks fifteen minutes before Tony had Ziva and McGee up in arms about ghosts and pirates, which especially proved upsetting when the only crew the team had encountered lay dead on the galley floor.

It took Jethro forever to shake them from his own coattails, ordering them to search the ship while he and Ducky dealt with the dead naval officer they located.

Still, they dilly dallyed long enough and actually whined about leaving the two older men, which did nothing to soothe his own frayed nerves. Snapping at them made him feel better, and served also to force them into the corridor.

Despite their number, they huddled together as one body and crept room to room, wasting a bit of time, but Gibbs viewed it from the positive peace and quiet he and Ducky gained after they departed.

Once they all reunited the three reminded him of middle school students who had stayed up past bedtime to tell horror stories, from Bloody Mary to the Headless Horsemen plus any number of antagonists between.

A quick glance at Tim confirmed his worry that besides his absolute fear, the young man's motion sickness had surfaced and threatened to overwhelm him.

From snatches of their conversations he found Ziva had evidently regaled her listeners with threats of supernatural perils, and even in the room with the rest of her team her eyes darted from corner to corner, and she stood poised, ready to flee at any irregularity.

Allowing his imagination to run riot, Tony managed to convince himself he had contracted an infectious blood borne illness, terminal no less, and one that would take him down like a dog before it finished sucking his breath. Overly dramatic already, and with his own emotions on edge, he sat stoically with a wet rag on his head and Dr. Mallard checking his pulse.

Though they all appeared ready to implode, Leroy Jethro Gibbs tempered his sympathy and barked orders, refusing to allow them time to wallow over their perceived ailments and bête noires. Galvanized, they outperformed themselves by solving the case within hours on board, despite the dearth of evidence at their disposal.

Still, what Jethro enjoyed recalling most for absolute entertainment value was Tony's entire shipboard performance.

Stopping suddenly, the gunny ran a hand through his silver hair and exhaled slowly. His knee now throbbed with a vengeance, and wincing, he limped back to the sofa.

Flinging himself against the cushions he could not stifle a groan as he lifted his leg to elevate the strained joint. Pain radiated up and down his leg, attacking with vicious claws of anguish.

The throbbing gripped him in waves, and he sat almost paralyzed waiting for the stabbing pounding to subside enough to allow him a chance to think.

Leaning back he sought to concentrate on his observations, again, rather than on his agony. Counting slowly, he focused upon his breathing to take his mind off of his misery.

Gradually, he relaxed enough to return to his musing.

Yes, sometimes he threatened Tony within an inch of his life, but he had long ago discerned how to elicit an immediate change of behavior. Both he and Tony knew that despite the fact that Tony appreciated limits, he took full advantage of testing them.

Jethro grinned, then sobered as a picture of Maddie Tyler materialized from his memory. The young woman had thought Jethro her Superman, but when it really mattered, his protection failed, and Tony blasted in and saved them both.

That morning when he entered the bullpen and Tim sent him to the breakroom to meet the young woman, Jethro recalled that Maddie's appearance cut him to the core.

Except it was not the first time he had seen his visitor.

No, he had encountered this young lady numerous times in the past, since she had once been his daughter Kelly's best friend, his deceased daughter Kelly's best friend.

The personal tie almost crippled him, and he fought consciously to forget the past as he dealt with her to assist her bid for protection against a harassing Marine.

Each hour on that case ripped into him, resurrecting unimaginable pain.

In the end he gambled wrong, misread the situation and backed Maddie and himself into a corner, or more accurately, into an underwater tomb with them pinned in an automobile.

With everything lost, he surrendered into the welcoming release of joining his wife and daughter. The utter joy of reuniting with them in Heaven blanketed him in peace, finally.

Tony's voice, deep, decisive, and demanding infiltrated the family gathering, though, and he felt his agent's hand grabbing him, shaking him, and forcing him to relinquish his hold on Shannon and Kelly.

Fingernails pressing into his palm, Maddie's fingers tightened into his own, and struggling, he reluctantly rolled towards her on the rough wooden dock where Tony had dragged them and opened his eyes.

Had Tony not dived into that water and broken the car's windshield to yank them free, they would have drowned. Jethro understood that, recognized that he had readily slipped into embracing the end and no longer cared about survival or staying on Earth. But Tony refused to let him go, and he meant Maddie would survive alongside his boss, as well.

Not until a couple of hours later did Gibbs fully comprehend what had transpired that life changing afternoon.

At the hospital Ducky zigzagged among the three of them, his expertise shared in the diagnosis and assessment with the other physicians.

Pronounced well enough to leave before the end of the afternoon, Jethro and Maddie left the facility together and shared their farewells in the parking lot. An NCIS agent guided the college student to a government car, and she waved goodbye as they left the parking lot for her apartment.

McGee pointed towards Jethro's ride, and once Maddie departed, he wearily climbed into the passenger seat. Other than insisting that Tim stop coddling him, they rode to his house in silence.

Some time later Jethro learned from Ducky that the second they pronounced Maddie recovered enough to leave Bethesda, she insisted upon first tiptoeing to Tony's bedside where she burst into tears and sobbed her thanks and gratitude to him.

All that day, at the hospital and later at home, it did not occur to him to question his senior field agent's health. Nor did it dawn on him that Tony stayed under critical non- stop medical supervision at Bethesda, or that Dr. Brad Pitt now oversaw the young agent's care once again.

Jethro did not know it because Jethro did not take the time to inquire.

Once safely home he changed into a worn sweatshirt and comfortable pants. The chill of that icy water seemed to have penetrated his flesh and bones and entered his marrow. Finally satisfied with his comfort level he headed to the basement and picked up the pieces of his current life.

Abby phoned to check on him, her usual bubbly chatter subdued and unmistakably tinged with fear. When she mentioned Tony's medical status the forensic scientist erroneously believed that Jethro Gibbs, Tony's boss/ mentor/ father figure had made it his business to discover Tony's precarious medical standing.

The shock in her voice when she realized that he had no idea Tony lay unconscious in the Intensive Care Unit stabbed into him, both for her sake and for Tony's, and in an explosion of clarity he loathed himself for never even asking and for failing to step up when it mattered the absolute most.


	10. Fruition

Fruition

On the other end of the phone, Abby's flood of words turned to heartbreaking sobs. She had no reticence in sharing her terror that Tony's heroic act had overwhelmed his fragile lungs.

She wanted Anthony Dinozzo to live.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs did, too.

His head pounded and he felt his mouth go dry, almost physically deflating as the repercussions of his actions slammed into him. Yanking the tool belt from his waist he bolted up the stairs and into his truck, peeling away from the house while still fastening his seat belt.

Fighting the traffic, he burst through the medical center's doors within fifteen minutes and jogged to the counter to demand directions.

Eyeing him steadily, the nurse on duty in the reception area shared warily that Agent Dinozzo's critical status meant the medical facility would allow no visitors.

No, Jethro contradicted, he was Boss, not a visitor. He needed to get to his agent, immediately.

She stood firm, refusing to permit him anywhere in Tony's proximity.

Jethro raised his voice, at first carefully enunciating his demand to join Tony, then in a flurry of threats when she still blocked him.

A security guard, evidently having been summoned, rounded the counter. Spying his approach, Gibbs introduced himself and explained his position.

The guard grasped Jethro's arm firmly. "Gotta go, now Agent Gibbs," he spoke placatingly.

Drawing himself up to his full height, the Marine planted himself firmly and withstood the pull, his blue eyes snapping angrily at both of his adversaries.

Attempting to assuage him, the nurse advised, "Go home now and call the young man's family. They will give you a status report and ease your worry. You will not be able to remain here, though."

Jethro felt a vise grip squeeze both sides of his chest, a physical manifestation of the panic beginning to overwhelm him. He would now lose Tony as he had lost Shannon and Kelly.

He licked his lips and spoke softly. "Get Brad please, Brad Pitt. Call for Dr. Pitt. Tell him I need him and let me speak to him."

The security guard rolled his eyes at the nurse, signaling the futility of the request.

She opened her mouth to refuse the plea, but the pain in Jethro's blue eyes made her soften her stance, pick up the phone, and page the doctor.

All three stood their ground in the interim, silently maintaining a sort of truce until Dr. Brad Pitt joined them nearly five minutes later.

Identifying the visitor at the desk, an obviously upset Brad sighed audibly and motioned to the guard, "I've got this one, Bob. You're good to go."

As instructed, the guard nodded and left, while the nurse turned away from Jethro and Brad and resumed her work on the hospital computer.

Rubbing his chin, the doctor greeted him coldly. "What can I do for you today, Agent Gibbs?"

Jethro cringed at the sharpness in the normally affable doctor's voice but acknowledged to himself that he deserved the tone. "Tony- I need to see- how is he, Brad?"

"He's alive," the physician responded shortly, crossing his arms across his chest and studying Gibbs with impatience.

"But what does it look like…."

The doctor snapped a response. "Look, Agent Gibbs, you just left here yourself, remember? We treated you as a patient, a patient who barely escaped drowning, just a few short hours ago."

"Right," Jethro encouraged, "with Tony and a young lady…"

Narrowing his eyes, Brad's gaze focused on Jethro as he interrupted, "Tony Dinozzo, your established senior field agent, lay feet from you in another cubicle while my team and I fought to keep his own life going." Brad's jaw clenched. "That agent saved the lives of two people today, Agent Gibbs. I have learned that one of them was a stranger, but the other was the man he respects most in this world."

Gibbs tried to interject, "I know, and that…"

Not allowed to finish that sentence either, Brad continued the diatribe, his voice taking on a razor sharp edge with each additional word. "He dove in to save her, and he dove in to save you. Tony performed that miracle with the same lungs so compromised from Ypestis that he normally gets winded running a quarter of a block. Today- but today he inhaled water that has proven so toxic to him that it exploded into a lung infection, and today he pushed himself so far past his strength and lung capacity that honestly, I do not know if he'll make it."

Jethro's head shot up as the doctor's angry appraisal continued. "All this he did for you, Agent Gibbs, and though three of you were admitted into this hospital, two have walked out with no permanent damage. He can not. He will not! No, he can not walk out like you, Agent Gibbs."

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Brad took note of the fact that Jethro had focused upon the stethoscope hanging around the doctor's neck.

"Not only is he physically compromised, but the one man who should have glued himself to Tony's side did not even bother checking on him before heading home hours ago. Nice wrapup of a case, huh, Agent Gibbs?"

Brad's words, sarcastic, bitter, and honest, slapped into Gibbs.

"Now, excuse me. I have absolutely no problem understanding my priorities, and that means I have a patient to whom I need to return."

He pivoted abruptly but Jethro grabbed his shoulder. "Let me go to him now," he entreated.

Incredulous, the physician wheeled to confront him. Dr. Pitt's anger and hurt were still so fresh that his chest heaved at the injustice done his patient. Fighting to restrain himself, he stared at Jethro several long seconds before finally sharply responding, "No, absolutely not!"

Jethro quelled the anger which bubbled up as an immediate response. His normal modus operandi when someone blocked him favored disregarding the obstacle and bulldozing through anyway.

He derived some internal satisfaction from the method, a sense of domination he favored and practiced because, well because he found himself good at it.

Instead, however, he inhaled a deep, steadying breath and met Brad's accusing stare, answering simply. "I do not blame you."

Not expecting such a submissive response, the words clearly caught the physician unaware. Unable to determine a clever or appropriate response, he stood silently instead.

Skilled at sensing an opportunity, Jethro took advantage of the bewilderment by reaching out again and patting the doctor's upper arm before assuring him thoughtfully. "You have done nothing but try to protect Tony today."

Pinching his nose, he searched for the next words he wanted to share with Brad. "You fought for Tony's life even with the worst possible scenario for a man with his medical history. He took a beating in that water, saving both Maddie and me."

Recognizing sincerity in the older man's response, Brad's features softened slightly, and he shifted to a more comfortable stance.

"He needs me, though. Let me go to him," Gibbs continued. "Nothing I say will justify my lack of action earlier today. My focus has been on protecting Maddie to the exclusion of everything and everyone else these past days. That's no excuse at all, and my motive will not exonerate me, but Dr. Pitt, you have to concede that Tony will respond better if he knows I am near him."

The concluding declaration hit home with the doctor, who certainly recalled the turnabout effect Jethro had on Tony during the YPestis battle years before.

Gibbs perceived the doctor might possibly yield his earlier decision with more pragmatic thoughts, and added reasonably, "You still can mull over how I failed him, but please, Brad, let me stay with him while you do it."

The air seemed to evaporate around them as several seconds elapsed, both men intent upon acting in the best interest of NCIS senior field agent, Tony Dinozzo.

Dr. Brad Pitt recognized that heartfelt mea culpa as one of the very few ever uttered out loud from the mouth of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. As a medical professional, his mission after saving Tony's life centered upon restoring Tony's health, and honestly searching his soul, he could not deny the truth behind the plea made him from his patient's mentor.

Suddenly halting the confrontation, he simply acquiesced.

The next three nights and days Gibbs stationed himself at his protégé's bedside, working alongside Brad and the rest of the medical personnel in keeping Tony fighting and alive.

Refusing to go anywhere outside of Bethesda, he catnapped in a chair positioned next to the hospital bed and survived on hospital coffee and random bites from the sandwiches Ducky and Abby forced upon him when they visited.

Her gaze shifting between Tony's unconscious form and the set jaw of his boss, NCIS director Jenny Shepard took one assessing look at him the first afternoon and told him gently that his job could wait, and to not worry about the agency.

Truthfully, she could have saved her breath. His duties at NCIS had not entered his thoughts. Her words meant nothing to him, not even registering in his preoccupied state.

He waved her away.

Jethro wiped Tony's face with cool, wet cloths time and time again, held him upright when the infection in his lungs compromised his breathing, and brushed back his hair to soothe him.

His dedicated focus upon Tony earned Jethro the respect of the Intensive Care Unit's medical staff and even grudgingly, of Dr. Brad Pitt.

Jethro stationed himself so that anyone approaching the bed would discover him as a sentinel, intent upon his protection of Tony by participating in his immediate recovery. Without question, the single minded watch exacted a heavy toll on the Marine, whose back and knee spasmed constantly in the tight space allotted in the Intensive Care Unit. Still, as he reminded himself without reprieve throughout the vigil, his protégé's struggle to survive trumped his discomfort a hundredfold.

Talking quietly with him in pre dawn hours Ducky pondered the advisability of contacting Tony's father, despite Jethro's misgivings and personal distrust of the elder Dinozzo.

Finally, the Marine summarized his hesitation, "Duck, he has confided his disappointment in Senior's lackadaisical approach to him more than once. In fact, I can tell you that many nights he has sacked out in my guest room after watching me work in the basement, and after he confided one story after another about his dad's ambivalence towards him."

The medical examiner slid off his glasses and wiped them on his sleeve before positioning them once again on his nose. "Perhaps we could delay for a couple of days, then. The last thing the lad needs is stress at this point."

**The slam of a wooden kitchen cabinet and the distinctive ting produced when one beverage glass tilted into another startled him awake. Jethro Gibbs realized he had dozed off on the sofa.**

Glancing around quickly to identify his visitor, he relaxed visibly when Tony leaned out of the kitchen and flashed him a megawatt smile. Still dressed in his office attire, the emerald green of his shirt complemented his expressive eyes, while the trim lines of the pants accentuated his athletic physique.

Jethro grinned in welcome though he still felt unsettled over remembering that hell on earth nightmare of Tony's near death experience.

"Stay still, Boss, fresh coffee brews as we speak."

Leaning his head back against the sofa again Jethro cleared his throat. "Who gave you time off work?"

"I did," Tony admitted, then winked conspiratorially, "but the Director agreed once I volunteered to come instead of sending her here. My thinking said that a woman's company, though appealing, might…."

Gibbs cut him off gruffly, "Stop right there, Tony."

"Absolutely," Tony assured him agreeably. "Kissing and telling just…"

"Tony!"

A laugh followed and the younger man appeared with cups of coffee clutched in both hands. He placed one beside Gibbs before selecting a seat opposite him in the upholstered armchair.

Turning serious to discuss business, Tony swallowed a mouthful of hot coffee and leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs. "Agency's rolling, Boss."

"I know," Gibbs grinned, awkwardly moving into a sitting position. "I expected you to competently take the helm. Never once have I doubted your ability as either an agent or as a leader, Tony."

The sincere words pleased the younger man, but were met with shy acceptance. Deep in his heart Tony always doubted himself, even the best parts of himself, an insecurity which made him oddly endearing.

"Look at me."

The younger man did, sparkling green eyes meeting steely blue ones.

"You make me proud."

Though he did not respond, Jethro read the reply as Tony averted his eyes and blinked.

Gibbs regarded him several more seconds, watching the play of emotions flash across the familiar face. A couple of years- a few months following the Maddie incident, in fact, Tony had found himself exiled from Washington as an agent afloat, and few encounters had ever stabbed Jethro so poignantly as the ones conducted with his agent during that time, with Tony pleading with him to get him home.

Jethro exhaled slowly.

"Aww…" Tony spoke softly, "you just mean that because of your invalid status, the fact that I managed to not destroy your agency or team provides you immense relief."

"Did I say that?" Jethro raised his voice a bit and adopted the expression both Tony and Abby recognized as their warning before a smackdown.

"No, I guess not," Tony admitted with a shrug.

"I said you make me proud, and you do. The smartmouthed kid I hired all those years ago turned into the outstanding agent I trust in this world most to have my back."

Suddenly bashful and unsure exactly how to respond to the pronouncement, Tony started to stand. Gibbs held out a hand to stop him and he paused midway. "I mean it, Son."

Rising to his full height Tony turned and started towards the kitchen. "I know, Boss."


End file.
